[54][45], Tolbukhin's plan was to initially slow down the German advance to rob their offensive of momentum, then begin grinding down the attacking armies, then initiate the planned Soviet offensive to finish off the remaining German forces. Lake Balaton is a lake in Hungary, the largest lake in central Europe . Budapest. Company (T48/SU-57, e.g. As per the selected "Lösung C2", the Germans planned to attack Soviet General Fyodor Tolbukhin's 3rd Ukrainian Front. Budapest: PeKo Publishing. SS-Pz.Rgt 5 (Panther Ausf. J, StuG III.). Although there were no tanks in this defensive zone, there was an average of 17 anti-tank guns per kilometer forming 23 tank killing grounds. This sudden and savage push caused the Soviet command to actually contemplate an evacuation to the opposite shore. [29] The following day, January 28, this operation received its preliminary name, Operation Süd (G:South). Lac lake Balaton Hongrie Hungary Siofolk photo picture image (9643295341).jpg 5,572 × 3,715; 9.67 MB Modern architecture on lake Balaton.JPG 2,580 × 1,720; 980 KB Monotype XV on Lake Balaton, Hungary.jpg 2,521 × 1,681; 1.52 MB Artillery Regiment (ISU-152, captured Hummels, e.g. As the 2nd Ukrainian Front held the territory of Budapest and the lands north of the Hungarian capital, defensive preparations in this sector were not paid much attention due to the lower likelihood of attack, but this was not the same in the south. We have reviews of the best places to see in Lake Balaton. Sepp Dietrich, commander of the Sixth SS Panzer Army tasked with defending the last sources of petroleum controlled by the Germans, joked that “6th Panzer Army is well named—we have just six tanks left.”[72], The failure of the operation resulted in the "armband order" that was issued to Sepp Dietrich by Adolf Hitler, who claimed that the troops, and more importantly, the Leibstandarte, "did not fight as the situation demanded. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and the canalised Sió is the only outflow.. Páncélosok a Dunantulon - Az Utolsó Páncélosütközetek Magyarországon 1945 Tavaszán. Artillery Regiment (SU-100), 1821st Self-prop. During a Situation Conference on January 7, 1945 at which both Hermann Göring and OB West Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt were present, Hitler proposed his intention of pulling the 6th SS Panzer Army to form a reserve due to severe Allied air attacks. [40] The real plan for the units of 6th SS Panzer Army was to travel south through Vienna to their first Hungarian destination, the city of Győr and its surrounding area. Artillery Regiment (SU-100), 1922nd Self-prop. [23] By February 20, the Soviet fronts in Hungary began to understand what the Germans planned to do. Operation Spring Awakening (German: Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen) was the last major German offensive of World War II. G, Pz.IV, Tiger I.). IL-2m3. There are many places to be visited. There are 6 ways to get from El Camino Real & Calle Barcelona to Seattle by train, plane, bus or car. [33], Army Group South and the OKH could not agree on how to best utilize the 1st Cavalry Corps. When this news reached Hitler, he immediately began to plan a major offensive on this Front. There is a panorama of the Hill at Somosi, from the Víztükre Lake shores. Book your tickets online for the top things to do in Lake Balaton, Hungary on Tripadvisor: See 8,568 traveler reviews and photos of Lake Balaton tourist attractions. By mid-February, the Soviet bridgehead across the Garam River (Hron) north of Esztergom was identified as a threat. 1202nd Self-prop. [18] Before the end of the 4th day, the Germans had recaptured 400 square kilometers of territory, an achievement comparable to the initial German gains during the Ardennes Offensive and the Western Front in December 1944. [22] Von Rundstedt received the withdrawal orders on January 8, and the Panzer Army's divisions began preparations to withdraw from the Front. From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Balaton&oldid=6759929, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. Another part of 6th SS Panzer Army would then turn south and create a southern spearhead. Balaton A freshwater lake in Hungary, the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. white, 1896th Self-prop. Art. [38] Many of the incoming units also received cover names to help further mask the build-up of forces from the enemy. Between February 18 and March 3 the 233rd Rifle Division had dug 27 kilometers of trenches, 130 gun and mortar positions, 113 dugouts, 70 command posts and observation points, and laid 4,249 antitank and 5,058 antipersonnel mines, all this on a frontage of 5 kilometers. [32] Gudarian then ordered Otto Wöhler to increase the daily fuel allowance from 400 to 500 cubic meters (400k to 500k liters) of fuel on February 26,[34] and by the February 28 the specifics of the now officially named “Operation Frühlingserwachen” (G:Spring Awakening) was completed. [24] These two quotes illustrate how seriously Hitler viewed his ruling: “Hitler considered the protection of Vienna and Austria as of vital importance and that he would rather see Berlin fall than lose the Hungarian oil area and Austria”,[28] "He [Hitler] accepted the risk of the Russian threat to the Oder east of Berlin". Artillery Regiment (SU-76M). At it widest point, Lake Balaton measures about 9 miles (14 km) across. OKH wanted to send the Corps south-west to the 2nd Panzer army, a move Army Group South Commander Otto Wöhler saw of little use since the 2nd Panzer army would have a lower chance of success compared to the main attacking thrust of “Frühlingserwachen”. J, Flakpanzer IV 'Wirbelwind'). The remnants of the German 2nd Panzer Army were south of Graz in the Maribor area, facing the Soviet 57th Army and the Bulgarian First Army. 46° 45' to 47° 5' N., and from long. Wikipedia: Instance of: conflict: Part of: World War II: Location: Lake Balaton : Point in time: 15 April 1945: Start time: 6 March 1945: End time: 16 March 1945: 46° 58′ 48″ N, 18° 21′ 00″ E Balaton (saks. However, the commanding staff of Army Group E was pessimistic about the LXXXXI Corps' ability to reach Mohács due to the unfavoring terrain and sole dependence on infantry. [15] Hitler ordered OB West Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt to withdraw the following units from active combat in the Battle of the Bulge: I SS Panzer Coprs with 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte and 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, along with II SS Panzer Corps with 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich and 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen. It was to advance from an area north of Lake Balaton, through the two lakes (Balaton and Velence), and southeast to capture territory from the Sió Channel to the Danube. Wöhler wanted to use the 1st Cavalry Corps on the eastern shore of Lake Balaton, as German intelligence reported that "the enemy is still the weakest between Lake Balaton and the Sárviz Channel". Artillery Battalion (SU-76M), 44th Guards Self-prop. Dietrich's army made "good progress" at first, but as they drew near the Danube, the combination of the muddy terrain and strong Soviet resistance had ground the German advance to a halt.[69]. [52] The security of the lands West of the River Danube, particularly in the south which held the Hungarian oil fields, was the Germans' main priority at this stage of the war. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License. Hitler wanted to secure the extremely vital Nagykanizsa oil fields of southern Hungary, as this was the most strategically valuable asset remaining on the Eastern Front. Find what to do today, this weekend, or in January. Thus beginning on February 17, Operation Southwind began the effort to secure the Garam bridgehead from the 2nd Ukrainian Front, and by February 24 the task was successfully achieved, proving to be the very last successful German offensive of the war. [36], For Operation Spring Awakening, the area for the new offensive was set on the borderline between OKW (Army Group F) and OKH (Army Group South), and this would cause troubles. red, 170th Tank Brigade (T-34/85, markings: 5xx, e.g. Artillery Regiment (SU-100), 1068th Self-prop. IL-2m3, 165th Guards Ground Attack Regiment (IL-2m3 Sturmovik), 166th Guards Ground Attack Regiment (IL-2m3 Sturmovik), 167th Guards Ground Attack Regiment (IL-2m3 Sturmovik), 56th Fighter Air Regiment (La-5F, La-5FN), 530th Fighter Air Regiment (La-5F, La-5FN), 848th Fighter Air Regiment (La-5F, La-5FN), 267th Fighter Air Regiment (Yak-1b,-3,-9), 117th Guards Fighter Air Regiment (Yak-1b,-9), 168th Guards Fighter Air Regiment (Yak-1b,-9), 611th Fighter Air Regiment (Yak-1b,-3,-9D,DD,M) - White diagonal tail stripe with a wide bar on the rudder, 659th Fighter Air Regiment (Yak-3, -9D,DD,M,T) - Long white arrow on fuselage, 897th Fighter Air Regiment (Yak-1b,-3,-9D,DD,M,T), 31st Fighter Air Regiment (La-5F, La-5FN,-7FN) - Lightning bolt on fuselage, diagonal tail stripe, 116th Fighter Air Regiment (La-5F, La-5FN) - Lightning bolt on fuselage, diagonal tail stripes, 164th Fighter Air Regiment (La-5F, La-5FN) - Lightning bolt on fuselage, diagonal tail stripes, 244th Bomber Air Division (Douglas A-20 Boston), 260th Bomber Air Regiment (A-20B,C,G,J, UA-20C Boston) - Lightning emblem on the nose, 449th Bomber Air Regiment (A-20B,C,G UA-20C Boston) - Bomb dropping seagull emblem on the nose, 861st Bomber Air Regiment (A-20B,C,G,J UA-20C Boston), 97th Guards Night Bomber Air Regiment (Po-2), 39th Separate Air Reconnaissance Regiment (Pe-2R, Yak-9D,M,R), 130th Guards Ground Attack Regiment (IL-2m3 Sturmovik), 131st Guards Ground Attack Regiment (IL-2m3 Sturmovik), 187th Guards Ground Attack Regiment (IL-2m3 Sturmovik), 188th Guards Ground Attack Regiment (IL-2m3 Sturmovik), 190th Guards Ground Attack Regiment (IL-2m3 Sturmovik), 235st Ground Attack Regiment (IL-2m3 Sturmovik) - white tail cap, 451st Ground Attack Regiment (IL-2m3 Sturmovik), 31st Guards Fighter Air Regiment (Yak-1b, -9), 73rd Guards Fighter Air Regiment (Yak-1b, -9), 85th Guards Fighter Air Regiment (Yak-1b, -9), 48th Bomber Air Regiment (A-20G Boston) - red tail cap, 452nd Bomber Air Regiment (A-20G Boston) - white tail cap, 453rd Bomber Air Regiment (A-20G Boston) - dark blue tail cap, 14th Guards Bomber Air Regiment (B-25D,J Mitchell), 238th Guards Bomber Air Regiment (B-25D,J Mitchell), 251st Guards Bomber Air Regiment (B-25D,J Mitchell), 53rd Bomber Air Division (Li-2 cargo planes, etc. [23] Knowing that German Panzer divisions were not created for defensive purposes, the Soviet Fronts in Hungary became suspicious of the enemy's intentions. white, 1694th Anti Aircraft Artillery Regiment (M-17 halftrack), 1st Guards Mechanized Brigade (BA-64, M3A1 Scout Car, e.g. German offensive (6–15 March 1945): Germany. Prisoners taken during Operation Southwind testified that the Germans were in fact preparing to gather a large offensive force. The Germans attacked in three prongs: Frühlingserwachen in the Balaton-Lake Velence-Danube area, Eisbrecher south of Lake Balaton, and Waldteufel south of the Drava-Danube triangle. white, 135th Tank Brigade (T-34/85, markings: Д -in diamond- and xx, e.g. It is the largest thermal lake in the world which is available for swimming (47,500 square metres (511,286 sq ft) in area). red, 1004th Self-Prop. The butte bears witness to the original level of the basalt layer that formed at the end of the Pliocene Epoch (i.e., about 5.3 to 2.6 By 15 April, the depleted German 6th Army was north of Graz, facing the Soviet 26th and 27th Armies. A, -D, Pz.IV Ausf. After reaching the Danube, one part of the army would turn north creating a northern spearhead and move along the Danube River to retake Budapest, which had been captured on 13 February 1945. Maier, Georg (2004). The operation was referred to in Germany as the Plattensee Offensive and in the Soviet Union as the Balaton Defensive Operation. [41] Some units necessary for the major offensive did not arrive in Hungary until just a few days before its start, the last being the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen arriving in Győr at the beginning of March. [56] The 26th Army, which was expected to take the brunt of the German offensive, arranged its three Rifle Corps along a 44 km front but only 10–15 km deep. Somogy County lies in south-western Hungary, on the border with Croatia (Koprivnica-Križevci County and Virovitica-Podravina County).It stretches between the river Dráva and the southern shore of Lake Balaton.It shares borders with the Hungarian counties of Zala, Veszprém, Fejér, Tolna, and Baranya.It is the most sparsely populated county in Hungary. 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